


Rey Rising

by rubric



Category: Red Rising Series - Pierce Brown, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Red Rising Fusion, Alternative Universe - Red Rising, Badass Rey, Character Death, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Kylo Ren Redemption, Kylo Ren is Not Nice, Major Character Injury, Original Character(s), POV Rey (Star Wars), Plot, Plot Twists, Plotty, Possessive Kylo Ren, Praise Kink, Protective Kylo Ren, Rough Sex, Sex In A Cave, Swordfighting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:27:37
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25181728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rubric/pseuds/rubric
Summary: Reylo in Pierce Brown Red Rising AU.  Takes place at the Mars Institute.Rey au Andromedus is the Primus of House Minerva.  She manages to lead her rival, Kylo au Ren, Primus of House Mars into a trap.  She has the upper hand, or does she?(non con rating for a short desc of a violent sexual act, no rape)——Background:TLDR Rey is basically the Darrow character from the book, she's from a lower oppressed class but has been reshaped to be a Gold, one of the ruling classes/races. She's clever, strong, and generally a badass as you can see. Kylo Ren is fucking Kylo RenThe Mars Institute is a Hunger Games style contest where the Golds fight it out for power and glory.  All the Gold candidates are divided into "Houses".  Their chosen leaders are "Primus".  The goal is to conquer the other houses (capturing their House standards and using yours to make others "slaves").  Rey's trying to win so she can eventually infiltrate the Golds and win freedom for her peoples.  Proctors = overseers of the gameRazors are like the lightsabers of the universe. Only Golds fuck with them and they are mad deadlyAnyway, this is a good book go read it if you want the background.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14





	1. Chase

Rey au Andromedus realizes she’s hits a dead end. _Perhaps leading him into a cave was not the most brilliant idea I’ve ever had_ , she admits to herself.She turns around and faces Kylo au Ren, Primus of House Mars. And he’s about to be really, really angry with her.

She is panting from the chase, at least 3 miles of sprinting across the grounds of Institute.He looks barely winded.In her right hand, she holds his intended prize — a tall metal pole, a re-purposed dueling staff. Tied to it is a square torn from a bed sheet. The sheet has a crudely-drawn sigil resembling that of House Minerva’s. 

He realizes her deception in short order. 

“You don’t have the standard.”He says flatly, but his annoyance comes through.Kylo’s sheer presence dwarfs the entrance to the cave, blocking her exit and most of the light. At well over 2 meters tall, he is massive even for a Gold.His body is a lean and muscular weapon.She doubts there was much in the way of spare fat even before the trials.He is not classically beautiful like many Golds.But his face is striking, the intensity of his eyes and the hard mask contrasting with the fullness of his lips. 

His Razor ( _where did he get a Razor?_ she wonders) is held at his side, already uncurled and activated into a rigid metal sword. At rest, it's a whip. In its active form, it’s razor sharp and deadly.

“Ah, so you noticed?” Rey teases him, triumphant. ”This thing? Yes, I’m afraid this is… a fake.” She makes a shrugging motion with her shoulders. “We have so many talented Gold slaves in our House, so many mouths to feed you know… we decided to put them to work.”She twirls the imposter in her hand with a flourish.

“It was a nice trick diverting me here.I suppose your real House standard was actually with that insane Bronze dog you have following you around.”

“Don’t be sore because Sevro got the best of you. You’ll be happy to know while you and your bootlickers were chasing us, we had an ambush waiting outside your castle. You didn’t leave your standard there, by any chance?My, my, that small contingent you left must have been outnumbered… 3 to 1? In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if our new Martian slaves are scrubbing our pots and cleaning our latrine this very moment.

“Tell me, my _goodman_ ” she offers innocently, “….Do YOU know how to cook?”

“...We’ll see how long they last without you.” Kylo snarls forward and strikes with a flash.Rey raises the standard in defense, blocking easily. Kylo grunts in surprise, expecting the metal to give way to his blade. The Razor is a weapon that has few defenses, but the dueling staffs were designed specifically for sparring against them. They have no edge so the Golds probably never even considered their use in live combat, only a training tool. They prefer more lethal weapons.

Kylo attempts a few more hits, lazily testing her, as she parries.At some point, the crudely attached rag falls off.It becomes mottled with their footsteps. 

The two Primuses continue their dance, circling each other warily, eyes locked and weapons ringing.

“I’ll admit,” he continues. “I did not except a girl from a nobody House to rise as Primus. Scavenger, they call you? I had my bet on Tactus, or one of the Telemanus brutes.But there is a lot that is surprising about you, isn’t there.

“I also want to learn how it came to be that pretty boy Cassius, who was _my vassal,_ came to be fighting for House Minerva.” He drawls, “but I suppose he’s not the first man to fall to a pair of nicely spread legs.”

Rey seethes, knowing she is being baited.

Kylo continues. “I enjoyed breaking that traitor’s nose, Scavenger.How is he looking these days?It’s just a shame that his profile will never be the same.”A pause. 

“Tell me, why _do_ they call you Scavenger? Is it because of how you collect these pitiful Pixies? Is it because of the way you _beg_ to take their cocks?”

Rey lunges forward to attack in a flurry of movements. 

Kylo au Ren is a master at the Razor.It is rumored he trained with Aja au Ren in the year leading up to the Institute.Rey had observed his skill personally when he fought with Cassius, before she distracted him and led him on this goose chase.Cassius is also an adept duelist, but without a Razor, ultimately fell to Ren.She hopes he’d survived the skirmish.

But Rey is scrappy and fast, and uses this to her advantage.Even without the grueling conditioning she endured in the process of her Carving from Red to Gold, she brings reflexes and fighting skills from her past life.The mines were unforgiving, forcing her to earn the respect of her fellow Helldivers, traditionally all men.She became used to constantly being challenged by those who felt threatened by her presence. It didn’t help that she had a hard time holding her temper and her mouth in check.Her duroSteel staff, used to navigate the rocky underground terrain she lived in for years, was her not just her tool but weapon of choice.More than once she had to fight off someone who intended violence toward her.She developed a style both inventive and unpredictable.

Kylo slowly gains ground.“Your style is interesting,” he says flatly.Another strike, this time, putting more of his power behind it.Rey grunts, forced back another step toward the wall of the cave. 

“Decent footwork,” he adds.Another strike.“But you are leaving your left open. You need a teacher.”

Rey huffs.Holding the staff with two hands, she brings it down in a powerful charge, then spins it to get a hit on Ren’s left ribs.He responds with a flurry of strikes that threatens to have her trapped against the wall.

 _Here goes nothing_. She strike hard, pressing him back, then moves to strike again and at the last minute before bring her staff down, swiftly kicks her leg up high and prays.She finds her target — the button that de-activates the Razor on the hilt, exposed above Kylo’s grip.The button turns a Razor from a rigid blade when active back to its resting position, a sleek whip. 

The wrong move would have sliced her foot in half, but her aim is true.The Razor goes limp just as her staff strikes and her foot hits, wrapping around Rey’s staff in a lasso movement.

She uses the strength of her grip, powerful even for a Gold but honed from years in the mines as a Helldiver — and _pulls._ His Razor, wrapped around her staff, flies from his right palm. She catches it with her left, releasing one hand from the grip of her staff. 

In a fluid movement she plants her feet, activates the Razor, and in a single upsweep drives his Razor upward, leaving a nasty slash that bisects one side of his face from brow to cheek.

He blinks and stumbles back.

Grinning, Rey faces Kylo au Ren, Razor now in her possession.There is a moment of shock and — is that wonder?— on his face. It makes Kylo looks much younger, Rey thinks.She missed his eye by a fraction, but the wound is weeping.

The Scavenger drops the staff and runs.

———

Kylo, originally Ben au Organa, is son to Leia au Organa, Sovereign and holder of the Morning Throne.When he was a child barely a few years old, he became the ward of the Rens as a casualty of the First Moon Lord Rebellion.By offering him as a hostage, the Organas hoped to guarantee peace, a desperate move when the rage of the Rim Lords at the destruction of Rhea seemed bottomless and threatened the collapse of Society. The Rim Lords backed down. 

House Ren apparently had a secretive base somewhere in off one of the moons of Jupiter.It was said they kept an area of the moon half-terraformed, and it was a House tradition to abandon the Gold children from age 6 to fend for themselves.Those that survived earned the right to live — another way to cull weakness out of their bloodline. 

Ben emerged as Kylo au Ren, disavowing his original House, and for all appearances, now their enemy.He developed a reputation as one of the most ruthless of the Ren, despite having no blood relation.A reputation he sealed when he murdered his biological father at the age of 16. 

He’s murdered at least 4 others at the Institute already, even before he had that bloodydamn Razor.His nickname here? The Dark Knight, after the most famous butcher of the Rebellion, Vader au Ren.

This was the man chasing her, Rey thought in between breaths. 

She takes a second to look back and sees him charging at her, rage in his eyes. Blood leaks down his face like war paint.He’s carrying her old weapon, the dueling staff.It looks incongruous in his hand, too short for his incredible height. 

Minutes pass, but she feel like they’ve been sprinting for hours.The woods grow thick and the air colder.Snow falls, lightly. 

A crash behind her, then it’s too quiet.She doesn’t look.

She thinks perhaps Kylo has fallen back. She hears a crash from her left, then immediately from her right. 

There is more than one pursuer, now.

She stops, entering a clearing ahead.There is no sign of Kylo.She searches, finding 4 sets of eyes glowing in the shadows of the tree line on the far left.The eyes move closer, and shapes start to form.The creatures are enormous, bigger than a horse, shaped like bears but none she’s ever seen.Albino white except for the yellow eyes tinged with red and a stripe of red.Hands that look almost human in shape except for the razor claws. Not bears. Carved, then. 

And, they are heading directly for her.She activates the Razor.

“Those are bloodbacks.”She hears a voice, breathless.Kylo is wounded, a nasty gash down his left side.He’s leaning against her staff as means of support instead of held as a weapon.“I heard the Jackal is controlling them somehow.We are in his territory.” 

She turns toward Kylo, Razor pointed in his direction.He smiles weakly.Again that flash of youth.“I’m afraid we have bigger things to worry about, Scavenger.Those creatures will be upon us shortly.We’ll have to dispatch them together, or we’ll both be dead.Give me my Razor.”

She snorts. “You’re delirious. Besides…”she looks at the fresh blood leaking from his side with an alarm she didn’t expect to feel, “You’re in no shape to use it.”

“I already dealt with one of them with this stick of yours,” he growls. “I can use that better than you can.”

“No.Gorydamn.Chance.”She says through gritted teeth.“Head back toward the cave, I’ll distract them.”And Rey takes off, charging toward the bloodback on the right.

“You stupid girl,” she hears Kylo say, following on her heel. 

She uses the seconds to close the distance between her and the creature to feel the balance of her new weapon.It feels strange, but good, so light for such a deadly instrument. 

The bloodback raises up on its hind legs and roars. 

She increases her speed.When she’s almost on him, she dives down, kicking up dirt as she skids. She deactivates the Razor and, with a flick of the wrist, wraps the now whip shaped metal at one of the creature’s back legs.

Letting momentum continue to drag her as her whip tightens, she activates the blade. She hears a bloodcurdling howl. The leg separates, the Razor slicing it cleanly off.  The creature falls.

The first bloodback is injured and stumbling up, but now also angry. The second one roars in sympathy, heading toward her with speed.She runs into the thicket for cover. 

_Bloodydamn, this one is even larger than the first._ She thinks.There’s a flash of intelligence in its eyes, and she swears it is pausing, assessing how to best rip her to shreds. _What did they Carve this thing with?_

Rey doesn’t have a lot of time to ponder, as the bear lunges for her, obviously deciding to go with its brute strength advantage.She barely misses a razor-claw arm as it sweeps for her head, ducking to the bushes and rolling seconds out of its reach. She picks a direction and runs.

Luck is not on her side.She stumbles on a root hidden in the low brush.She manages to recover with a roll, but by then the giant bear is upon her.Worse, in the tumble, she loses the Razor. She scrambles to stand up, looking for her weapon, but by that time, the bear is within arms reach, perched on his hind legs, and boy, does he look angry. 

_This is it,_ she resigns. _I endured all of this, only for it to end because of a stupid bear._

A thick clawed arm reaches to grab her again, and then drops, unnaturally.It falls to the forest floor straight down, a victim of gravity.A high pitched shriek escapes its maw, then a second later, a metal point emerges from its chest, become a line, nearly bisecting the creature in two.The bloodback falls to the forest floor with a heavy thud, no longer moving. 

Behind its corpse, Kylo stands there with his Razor at his side, clutching the wound on his left for support. His face is streaked with blood, eyes glowing and lips held in a tight line, and all Rey sees is Death himself come for her. 

“I took care of the other one,”he says. But it comes out weakly.

The he sways. The Razor drops. Two seconds later, the ruthless Primus of House Mars, adopted scion to House au Ren, heir-apparent to the Dark Knight Vader, and perhaps her most deadly enemy at the Institute, follows with it.

———

_What are you doing?_

Don’t think about it, Rey says to herself.

It’s now full dark, the snow falling more heavily now.The forest alive with new, deadly sounds; nightmare predators dreamed up by the Proctors to test their chess pieces.

One arm clutches the Razor at ready, knuckles white with the intensity of her grip. 

The other is supporting another weapon, two plus meters of engineered murder, as they stumble back in the direction they came.

Kylo leans on her only as much as his pride allows him.Rey’s arm threads around Kylo’s waist, holding up the Mars Primus, careful to avoid the wound that continues to leak through his shirt.She feels something sticky on her fingers nonetheless.An occasional grunt escapes Kylo’s lips.She can see Kylo is struggling to stay conscious.For minutes, no words are exchanged, neither party wanting to acknowledge the strange new circumstances they find themselves in. 

They reach the mouth of the cave.

 _Where are the medBots?_ Rey wonders. 

Kylo collapses once inside, bracing against a wall.Rey examines him from a distance.His breathing is shallow, and the wound she gave him starting to turn colors that she knows are not healthy. _Well, if you make it out of this, you’ll have your Peerless Scar,_ she thinks. 

He’s still consciously, impressively.Those bloody Gold genes.Kylo keeps his gaze fixated on her, as if waiting for any second for the final blow to reign down. 

“What are you waiting for, _Primus_? Finish what you started.”His voice comes out weak.

“Oh right, because I spent all that effort _dragging you here_ just to kill you now.”

Rey huffs and walks across the cave.She places the Razor down, judging a safe distance, and finds the counterfeit standard left on the floor.She shakes off the dust (as best as she is able to), then rips it into strips. 

Apprehensively, she walks back to Kylo.She stands for a second, hesitant.“I’m going to need to remove your shirt and examine that wound. Your face also needs an antibiotic, but I have none at present, so that will just have to wait.” 

_Oh bloodydamn, let’s just get this over with._

She kneels next to Kylo. Though the pain must be blinding, he does not cry out, and she swears he manages to actually sulk as she removes his shirt for him.She finds a gory mess underneath. He inhales sharply at her touch, but says nothing, choosing to use his eyes as daggers instead.His skin is surprisingly soft, and she allows her hand to linger a little too long at the sensation.

“I’m going to have to get water.” Rey declares, standing up.She takes his Razor with her, returning to a nearby stream she saw during their earlier chase.She finds a chunk of wood and carves a makeshift container with the Razor, filling it up.

When she returns, Kylo eyes are blessedly shut. _The Gold fool finally passed out,_ she thinks. _He must be half Obsidian._ She pours some water to wash the wound clean and binds the rest as best as she can. The bloodback left a deep ragged gash, but it appeared to miss any critical organs.His ribs are already bruised, a feat for a Gold, indicating he must have taken some hits as well.She notices older scars threading the hardened landscape of muscles on his chest. 

Something moist by her knee.There is a small pool of blood forming by his left calf.She curses. _His leg too?_ She cleans and binds that wound, as well. 

Finally, she takes a rag and then wipes the wound on his face, cleaning the blood that has dried.Her eyes linger too long at his lips, which are soft and full; another contrast to the hardness.

She considers making a fire, but decides it will be too risky.A pause, then she takes his shirt and lays it gently across his chest. _Better than nothing… but I’m not putting that on you again._

Exhaustion finally hits Rey at once.“I’m going to sleep.I’d appreciate it if you didn’t kill me.”

His eyes briefly become slits, then close again.

 _He was awake that WHOLE time?_ Rey marvels. Despite her tiredness, Rey settles across from him with her eyes glued, gripping the Razor.It is some time before she allows herself to fall asleep.

———

The next day, Rey wakes early.Kylo is still asleep.She goes to hunt.When she returns, Kylo does not stir, despite her loud movements.Something is not right. 

She ventures to place a hand on his head, which is too warm and bone white.He’s feverish.Infection is setting in. She unwraps the wound and makes an attempt to clean it and replace the dressings.

Rey walks out of the cave and screams to the sky.“Hey Proctors.Your gorydamn Dark Knight is dying, you bastards.You should really send a medBot to come get him.”

Rey gets no reply. 

———

That night, Rey leaves to hunt again.She gets lucky.She spies a small band of roving Golds from House Apollo, back from a raid.They are drunk with their success.She waits as silent as death until they approach and gores the horse their leader is riding.He falls hard, and she spins Kylo’s Razor at his neck while he kneels before her.

“Leave your spoils and the horses, and run if you want to live,” she calls out to the rest.They hesitate, but something wild in her eyes and the presence of the Razor makes them think better of it.They leave on foot, abandoning their cache and the remaining horses. 

She waits 10 minutes, then knocks the leader unconscious with the butt of the Razor.She heaves him over the back of a horse, and kicks the horse into a gallop. The other 3 horses she sends running in different directions. 

The prize are the injectables in the medPack.Nestled in the sack is also food (an entire ham, of all things), some knives, rope and grappling, and even a sturdy cloak.

Rey returns to the cave, and punches a needle into the arm of her feverish companion.But not until after she binds Kylo Ren’s wrists tightly with her new rope.

———

“It is the way of our Society.”

Rey blinks her eyes open. The first thing Rey does is squeeze her palm.Kylo’s Razor is still there.

“Titus was with House Mars,” he continues. “I heard what you did.”

Kylo au Ren is awake, seated, and speaking nonsense to her.

Observing his posture and not registering any immediate threat, Rey sighs a response. “I’m having trouble following you, Ren.” 

“The Proctors set the rule that `we are not to try to slaughter each other`.But entire purpose of this Institute is to cull weakness in our race.To let the strong rise to the top. They know this, and do not interfere.” 

Rey lets him continue with his monologue. 

“You have had a hundred opportunities to finish me off.Instead, you help me where the Proctors do not. There was no medBot, was there? Why are you showing mercy?”She remains silent.Despite his words, Kylo’s voice is calm and even curious.He is not baiting her.He is trying to understand something. 

“And yet, you ordered the execution of Titus au Ladros, did you not?”

Rey opens her mouth, then shuts it.She does not want to speak about Titus and the terrible things he did, Gold women or no.She does not want to remember that he too, was one of Dancer’s creations, a Carved Red.Driven mad by the years of what these monsters had done to them, what had to be done by his allies to bring him here.And she, his mirror, the one to kill him.

She expects Kylo to defend Titus, to swear revenge, to express contempt about her weakness with him after her treatment of Titus. What she does not expect is,

“Titus was no better than a rabid dog, lashing out violently without direction. We Gold are scalpels, tools, servants of Society in our own ways as much as the Reds, Pinks, Greys. We were made strong to serve as well as rule.Not to simply destroy.”A pause. “You knew what he did to thosewomen in Ceres and Minerva. It was beyond just rape.” 

Rey knew. 

Another thread.“I have heard strange things about Minerva.Despite your talk about slaves, you do not enslave the Houses you conquer. Yet, they follow you.”

Again that curious pitch in his voice.Was that admiration she sensed?

“And you want to know how I compel them, Ren?You think I hold something over them?”

“I want to know,” he affirms.

Rey decides to take control of the situation. She diverts.

“Why did _you_ not let the bloodback finish me off?”

He turns his head to the side, then returns her gaze.“I… we were to handle them together.I told you.Then you ran right at them like a crazed Obsidian.”

“So it would have been… _unhonorable,”_ she annunciates the world clearly, “for you to simply let me die, after asking me to work together with you?”Rey really doesn’t understand this man’s thinking.Is he truly recovered? He might not be entirely lucid. 

Kylo shifts, as if finally noticing the bindings.“You are like the rest.You think I am a monster.” 

_I think you all are monsters._ Rey sighs.“I don’t know what to think.” 

“Untie me.”He pauses. “It will be a… truce.Until we get out of the Jackal’s territory, at least.”

“I won’t.” 

“I already had the opportunity to kill you once.Or if not, to let that bloodback do the job.”A pause.“We’ll have to work together again.You don’t know the Jackal.”

Rey has heard the stories.They make Kylo au Ren look like a kindly uncle. 

_I can’t believe I’m doing this._ “Turn around.” 

Rey walks over and kneels by her prisoner. The Razor slices in one swift cut.Kylo shrugs his hands free, rubbing the blood back into his fingers. 

Rey moves to turn away and is frozen in place. Her wrist is held in an iron grip.A cold chill fills her body.

She turns back toward him.Despite his residual weakness, Ren pulls her in close easily.They are nearly chest-to-chest, faces inches away. The cold is replaced with an uncomfortable heat.

He is looking at her with that strange look again.He is so close she can smell him - it’s a mixture of blood and a musky, earthy odor that is uniquely him.

“I do not go back on my word, Rey au Andromedus. _You and I are bound_.” 

He releases her.Rey exhales a breath she does not realize she was holding in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg writing action is hard


	2. Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey and Kylo realize that they are stronger together, and form a mutually beneficial alliance.
> 
> PS there is explicit stuff at the end, just FYI

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought this story would be 2 chapters, it is looking like 3 or more. Also my first time writing anything smutty hope that came out uh okay.  
> I also edited (slightly) the first chapter, after reading a bit about the Pierce Brown books again. I haven't read them in a while so wanted to make sure my universe shit wasn't entirely off lol and had to make some small changes to make it more canon-ish

“Don’t be stupid. You’re not healed yet. You need a few days.” 

The Gold is trying to argue the opposite.“We should move.Besides, we will need another weapon.I left that stick of yours down the throat of that bloodbear whose leg you chopped off.”

Rey snorts.“You can’t even use a weapon right now.”

“A Gold _is_ a weapon.”His eyes flash dangerously. 

“We have knives.”Rey fetches the bag she stole from the Apollo raiders.She pulls out a particularly lethal looking one, a long serrated black dagger. 

“And you’ll give me my Razor?”

“I’ll consider it.”Rey palms the knife thoughtfully, and throws it.It spins and lands dead center in the trunk of a narrow tree.

“If the Jackal finds us here, we will need another weapon.A knife is good in close quarters, but no use against someone in the open with a sword.”He adds, deadpan, “You can only pull that move so many times, by the way, until you are out of knives.”

“Are you _joking_ with me?” 

“I don’t joke.” 

Rey marvels.She’s sitting outside a cave joking with the fearsome Kylo au Ren.

He’s looking better, with more color in his face.Golds heal quickly.The wound in side hasn’t quite closed up, but would have laid up a Red in the mine for weeks.Already the Dark Knight is moving, albeit slowly, and a few limping steps at a time.

“You should put some of this salve on your face.”Rey tosses him a tube from the medPack in the stolen sack.It is no longer an angry red color, but without treatment from a medBot to close it, It will still leave a nasty scar.

Rey grabs the Razor and activates it, and tests a few slashes and jabs against a tree.

The House Mars Primus watches her from his seat, his face unreadable. 

“You should angle your body a bit more.You need to lead with your sword arm.”Rey glowers at Kylo, then attempts to adjust her stance.

Before she knows it he is up and behind her, hands on her hips guiding her in the right position. He’s pressed against her.Rey inhales sharply. _How is he so fast, even injured?_ Kylo then places a hand on her shoulder and adjusts her arm.The feeling of his hands on her skin is electric.“Like that.”

He speaks into her ear, inches away.She can’t see his face.His voice is pitched low, disembodied. She thinks she can feel every muscle in his chest.

“You did decently with that bear for someone who’s looked like they’ve never used a Razor before.But it’s different from a staff.You need to adjust.I can teach you the forms.” 

His hands linger for a moment, then he steps away.He winces, and leans on a tree for support.Rey goes through a few more movements with the Razor while he watches silently.

“You’re good with the staff. We should get you another.”

“I like your Razor, I think.”

“It’s mine.”

“How did you even get a Razor? Only the Proctors have them.”

He just smiles. 

“I’d kill to get a pair of those gravBoots.”Rey sighs wistfully. She disengages the Razor and it curls back into a whip.She sits down, and ruffles through the bag, pulling out the ham. She cuts a chunk with the knife before handing it to Kylo.

Kylo pauses thoughtfully. “The Apollo Primus has a pulseSpear.It appears they were armed better than the rest of us.”

“Their Proctor is cheating, then.”

“Yes,” Kylo’s face twists in disgust.“It seems like the Jackal is the pick for the winner this year.” 

“Apollo is helping Pluto too?”The Jackal’s House.

“The Jackal is the son of ArchGovernor Augustus.Apollo is in his pocket, along with probably other Proctors.”He practically spits the words with rage.

“The game is _rigged_? What about the cream rising to the top?” 

“It appears that the ArchGovernor has other intentions.”Rey does not ask how Kylo knows these things.

“Where did you get this sack of supplies, anyway?”He asks, diverting.

“I ran into some Apollans coming back from a raid.I flashed your Razor at them and _encouraged_ them to leave their spoils behind.They scurried off and I collected the leavings.”

“Scavenger.”He says it with a hint of affection. He takes a bite of the ham and chews thoughtfully. 

Rey smiles back. “You do have a point about weapons.But we can’t travel yet.Not until you can walk more than 50 meters without keeling over.I’m not redressing that wound if you open it up again.” 

“What do you suggest, then?”

“I go find Sevro and the Howlers, they have likely returned to our castle. I’ll return any hostages from House Mars, they can fetch you.I assume you can survive on your own the hours it will take me to make the trip.We can go back to being enemies after that.” 

“No,” he says flatly. 

“You don’t trust me, then?”

“I am proposing an alternative plan.We could go back to being enemies.Or we could form an alliance, and take down the Jackal together,”Kylo offers.

“If we’re going to take on the Jackal, we’ll need the support.I can bring back the Minervans and the other Golds allies.You can rally Mars.”

“No,” Kylo says.“It’s better if it’s just us.”

“Are you gory insane?”

"It’s an advantage.The Primuses of Mars and Minerva are both missing, last seen in a chase likely ending in a violent confrontation.They’ll think we killed each other, or are otherwise disposed of.The Jackal will assume his strongest rivals are off the board.He will not be expecting us.” 

Rey is silent.This could be a trick.From what she knows of Golds, deception is in their blood. They are raised to be cruel and suffer no conscience about such actions.But the news about the Jackal intrigues her.The Rens are ruthless, but are of the old Iron Gold stock, and she could see Kylo’s sense of honor raging at the thought the game was rigged.If what he was saying was true, then they had a better chance working together.For better or worse, she seems to have earned some of the Dark Knight’s respect. 

“Let’s say I agree. We work together to remove the Jackal, then what?There can be only one winner.” 

“Then may the best Gold win.”

———

The next day, Kylo is much improved, though she can still see him wince a bit as he practices with the Razor.He cycles through a set of forms.Every movement is controlled, nothing wasted.There is power in every stroke, she admires.She sees what Kylo meant about her inexperience with the Razor.Was he holding back earlier, in his duel? 

A flurry of jabs, then a slice downward, and a rock is sliced cleanly in two.She wonders if that same movement was used to strike down his father.

“Apollo’s territory is nearby.We eliminate them, their Proctor is forced to leave the game.The Jackal loses his trump card,” Rey declares.

“And how do you propose we do that?”

She tells him her plan, and he smiles as he replies.“We wait 2 days. I’ll be ready then.”

———

That night the snow falls heavily.The temperature drops.Golds are engineered to withstand harsh climates more than any other Color other than perhaps the Obsidians, but Rey finds herself shivering herself to sleep nonetheless. They can’t risk being discovered by a fire.

Rey stirs in her sleep.The sound of soft footsteps coming toward her, and she blinks her eyes and tenses at the ready.She feels something heavy and warm fall on her — the cloak from the Apollo cache.

When she wakes up, the snow has stopped.Kylo is already outside — she hears the Razor ringing as he moves through his training routine.She walks out of the cave.

She is draped in the cloak and he stops his practice to look at her, but says nothing. 

“Tomorrow then?You are feeling recovered enough?”She hesitates.She is on the verge of thanking him for the cloak, but then stops herself, thinking better of it. 

“We need something else first.I’ll have to go tonight to fetch it.”

“I see.And you aren’t going to tell me what it is?”

“No,” he replies. 

Night falls.Kylo gathers his Razor and leaves without a word.Rey sits awake for hours, clutching the knife, fully aware how vulnerable she is.For all she knows, Ren has left to fetch a force to subdue her.Or perhaps he’s simply just left and is murdering the Minervans while she waits like a flushed eyed Pink in that damp cave. 

_I’m a bloodydamn fool._ Gathering the knives, she finds a thick tree and scrambles up it.She’s hidden in the shadows, but has a good view of the entrance of the cave.She remains as still as death, not even allowing herself to breathe. 

An hour later she hears movement. They become soft footsteps as they get closer.Rey stiffens from her hiding spot and watches. 

A large, solitary black figure comes into view. 

He stops at the cave entrance, then spins around.In a casual speaking voice, he says “You can come out, Rey.”

Rey drops from the branch silently, assessing Kylo with suspicion.He’s amused.

In one hand he clutches his Razor.In the other, he holds the standard with the sigil of the House of Mars.

———

The Apollo castle is a sprawling estate.It is rich with stables, a field for agriculture, and even a small orchard of fruit trees.At its center is a fortified keep.It’s a clear night, twin Martian moons shining.

Rey spots a night guard patrolling the wall of the keep, a few stationed outside the main gate, and a figure at the stables.She takes a moment of consideration, then crouches softly from her hiding spot, toward the stables.In her hand, she clutches an unlit torch. She uses it to hit the girl guarding the stables squarely across the head before she can cry out, then lights her torch with the lantern that falls from the guard’s hand. 

She then walks to the back of the stables and sets the torch to the far corner until she is satisfied the fire catches on the wood.

She continues to spread fires across the orchards and fields until the landscape is dotted with tiny blazing lights. 

There is now shouts of “fire!”The guards at the main keep fan out, looking for the culprit.The gate starts to open.

Rey looks around, satisfied. She makes little attempt at hiding her presence, and finally a guard notices, pointing and shouting in her direction.She faces them, splaying her legs out in a ready posture, torch in hand.

Four figures run her way, among the the Apollo ringleader from the gang she ambushed a few days earlier. 

_Finally, you dolts._ She was starting to wonder whether or not she’d have to start waving them down. 

“It’s that girl! The one that had the Razor!”

She makes a show of trying to fight them off, then submits.One Apollan Gold kicks her legs out under her and she falls forward, while the others pin her down and restrain her arms behind her with some rope. They find the knife tucked into her boot, and she watches as a guard tucks it into his waistband.

From the corner of her eye, she spots a flurry of Apollans fan out from the keep entrance, trying to put out the fires she started in the stables and fields.

“Get up.”Rey stands, and is shoved ahead, toward the gate of the main keep.The ringleader she had shamed clutches onto her arm, escorting her forward roughly.

Soon she sees a tall, imperious looking Gold emerge, pulseSpear in hand. _The Primus himself has come out to great me_ , she smirks.

“So you’re the girl who sent Ulan and his crew back here with their tails tucked between their legs the other day,”He speaks in a stuffy highLingo affect.“Where is your Razor now, lady?”

Rey shrugs.“It’s hard to keep track of everything you people keep leaving behind.”

He punches her without warning, a hit that lands squarely on her jaw. She feels the corner of her lip break. His gold irises glint in satisfaction.

In response, Rey gives him a full, bloody smile.There is murder in her veins.Around her, the Apollans struggle to contain the fires. 

“Who are you?Who are you with?You are not wearing your signet.” 

“I’m with myself, as you can well see.” 

He growls.“Go search for others.”A few of the guard breaks away to search the fields and orchards, and she’s left with the Primus and the Apollan restraining her. 

“You’ve done a little bit of damage, but you shall pay for it.”He brings his face close to hers.He is a hawk looking creature, skin spread over high cheekbones.“I recommend you cooperate. You have a pretty face, and perhaps you’d like to keep it that way.”

A cry from the keep, and a crash.Rey’s smile broadens. The Apollans in the fields notice the commotion, and rush back to defend the keep.

The Apollo Primus turns back at the sound.“What…?”

The Primus does not get a chance to finish his sentence.Rey lunges backward into the Apollan restraining her, head butting him, while feeling at his waistband with her bound hands.Her Helldiver dexterity does not fail her. She finds her knife and pulls it out, slicing the rope at her wrists in a fluid movement. She then stabs it into the side of her former escort before he can react. 

He cries out and falls to the ground, clutching his wound.

The Primus turns back toward her, hawk eyes raging.He activates the pulseSpear and swings.

Rey steps back, barely avoiding the swing and holds the knife out in front of her.With an inhale, she steps back and throws it.The Apollan tries to deflect but is a fraction too late, and it hits squarely at the soft part between his ribs. 

“You little bitch…” The Apollan hisses, falling to his knees. 

“I’m afraid that while you were all distracted, you must have let a little mouse in your castle,” Rey offers by way of explanation.

More sounds of clashing disturb the night air.She lands a powerful kick at the Primus’s chest, landing the knife in deeper. He huffs and falls back.She plants a boot on his chest as he wriggles.Several minutes pass.

Suddenly the sounds from the keep stop. A single broad black figure then emerges from the gate. Kylo au Ren moves slowly and purposefully toward Rey and the Apollo Primus, his Razor out, a single line glinting in the moonlight.His other hand is clutching a stained fist of cloth. Over his shoulder is draped the bloodied standard of House Apollo.

He looks at Rey, pausing a second at the bruise forming on her face, his face unreadable. He then crouches over Novas, former Primus of House Apollo, still struggling to stand under Rey’s boot.

“It’s over.Your forces are enslaved.”Kylo crushes the Mars standard to his forehead, smearing blood in its wake.“And now you are too.”

———

They leave the Apollan slaves with instructions.Do not leave the castle.Do not speak.At all. To anyone.

They sullenly obey. Rey and Kylo gather provisions, including an extra cloak, some blankets, another medPack, and most importantly, weapons.Rey takes the pulseSpear, Kylo has his Razor.They find a few ionBlades and some light armor on some of the guards.The horses in the stables are lost, victims of the fire, but Rey finds two that managed to escape on the far side of the castle.They load their spoils and return back to the cave. 

Rey is sorting through the food items when she feels Kylo’s presence behind her. 

“Our plan worked,” she says, turning toward him.“Apollo is now off the board.” 

She allows herself a triumphant smile.It cracks a bit where her face has started to bruise from the hit she took earlier.Kylo’s gazes fixes on it.The cave goes quiet.She feels his rage building, almost a palpable thing. _He is going to kill me now,_ she half thinks.The other half refuses to give voice to her real thoughts.

Her face falls and she returns his gaze with determination.Kylo's eyes are deep, fathomless pools, his mouth a tight line.He takes a step toward her with intention, blotting out most of the moonlight, leaving only him.She refuses to tremble, to show weakness.

Rey takes a sharp breath.

A second later, she is slammed against the wall of the cave with violence.His mouth plants on hers and she lets out a cry of surprise.There is softness and hardness all at once.He has total command of her, and drinks with abandon.An electric thrill courses through her as she returns the kiss.She finds herself as rough and desperate as her partner.She palms his chest and feels the muscles rippling under it, avoiding the tender area at his side.

He breaks to allow a second of breath before attacking her again, his hands moving down her body and brushing her breast with his fingertips.It tingles awake. “Kylo —”, she manages.She grabs his hair and pulls.

“You were brilliant,” he whispers into her ear.“Like one of the Conquerers.”His hands are at her hips now, worshipping the curves of her thighs.She feels a heat pool at her core and moans.She grabs his arms and pulls him closer, lifting her hips upward against his thighs with a wordless request. 

Slowly, he raises a hand to her face, brushing the bruise with his knuckles. His hand is soft, gentle.He explores the split on her lip.The other hand reaches for the back of her head, threading through golden strands of hair.Again the flash of rage in his eyes, and Rey feels a thread of terror.“He had no right to touch _you_ ,” he hisses softly, glancing again at her bruising cheek. “You are his better by a thousand.”

Channeling his anger, he puts his mouth on her neck and _sucks._ Rey is nearly undone.He takes her hand and places it on the scar forming on his face, the scar she gave him, looking at her face solemnly.

“You marked me,” he whispers softly.“I am proud to carry your scar.” He kisses her again deeply.She is pressed against the wall by all corners of his body.Another pause for a breath.

“But you are also _mine,”_ he growls.Rey shudders in response and Kylo takes that as encouragement.His hands move lower, grazing the top of the folds between her thighs over her clothes.Rey cries out.She curls under the shock of pleasure.He grunts, satisfied.He moves his hand up and under her pants, his calloused hand hitting the nub at the top of her cunt directly. 

“Tell me you want this,” he says at her neck, moving the hand below in circles.“Say it, my Aureate, my Iron Gold.”

A thread of coldness, of guilt. _I am no Gold._ But her body betrays her.His hand is slick with her response, and she feels the need tugging at her, building in her core. She move to palm the bulge of his pants — alarmingly large — and he moans into her.Taking that as her consent, he pulls her pants down in a quick, efficient movement, moving down to bringing his face between his legs as he laps his tongue into her.Rey thinks that she might see stars.

He sucks once _hard_ , and then laps the nub in circles as she continues to writhe against the wall.It’s almost too much to bear when he puts two fingers in, testing.

“I need you Kylo,” she gasps. Her cunt is _throbbing_ with it. 

Wordlessly, he removes the rest of her clothes, then his.He lays her down, and she sees a flash of his proud member for a brief second before he is upon her, dominating all her space. His mouth is everywhere and she feels his hardness pressing against her urgently. 

He lines up at her entrance and pulls her close.He pauses to look at her, then _pushes_.They both cry softly at the same time. 

She is utterly filled with him.He grabs her tightly by the wrists.His face scrunches up, then blinks open and stares at her.He releases her, she grabs his shoulders and pulls him back.

He starts to move.He finds a rhythm that is neither fast, nor slow, taking his time to thrust in deeply, to enjoy her, to fill her completely. “So beautiful,” he murmurs. “So perfect.”

Another thrust.“When I saw you with that staff.So defiant, so proud that you had tricked me,” he cooes into her ear.“I swore I’d destroy you. I wanted to see you submit then and there.” 

She feels that heat continue to build and a wave of pleasure as he hits that spot deeply in her.She is a single, continuous moan.Her walls clench with each thrust, and Kylo shudders and pull her closer.

“But it is you who have destroyed me,” he murmurs between breaths, languorously pushing into her and out. “You took my Razor from me with that move, my clever, clever girl,” he breathes.“I knew then I was undone.Tell me you felt it too—”

“Yes,” she admits, a plea. She’s so close, she’s spinning with it.She flashes back to forest, his face after defeating the bloodbear, how he fell and how she caught him.She brought him back like he was her prize. 

He moves more quickly now, and Rey is on the precipice, clutching and pleading incoherently.Kylo presses on, his eyes closed in concentration now.

“Come for me now, Rey.Come for me again, and again,” he pleads. 

He is rewarded.Rey explodes in a black wave of pleasure, her cunt contracting with it, waves expanding out and out.Kylo thrusts again twice through her orgasm and soon follows, arching and calling her name. 

They lie there, still joined, messy with sex and sweat and the blood of their earlier conquer.Soon there is nothing but the sound of their heavy breathing, retracting and slowing with their heartbeats. 


	3. Submission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Conclusion to our story!
> 
> Warning, there is a bit of a violent non conish sexual act described

In the morning, Rey lies still on the cold of the cave floor.They slept, entwined in the clothes discarded in fury, and entwined in each other.She thinks she has never been so warm, not since the mines, Kylo a venerable furnace of heat radiating into her.She tries to shift on her side and finds herself trapped, a broad arm pinning her from behind. 

She waits til she feels his breathing change. 

“Kylo.”

“Mmm,” he responds, speaking the words into her shoulder.

“We need to get up.We should move.We’ve stayed here too long.”She says the words almost regretfully.

He kisses her neck slowly, then moves.She watches him as he dresses, again with regret.He pauses and gives her a smirk, seeing how she admires his body, the grace of his muscles and all of its well-earned scars.He finds the armor taken from the Apollans and fits it to his body — luckily, the Gold they took it from was of similar size. 

He then gathers her things and helps her get ready, pulling her shirt over her head with tenderness.He is careful to avoid the bruise on her face, already healing.He latches the cloak around her neck on with concentration, while saying, “We should go west, to scout.The Jackal is clever.He is not at the Castle Pluto, he leaves slaves there as a diversion.”

“What else do you know about the Jackal?”Rey gathers the weapons, pausing to spin the pulseSpear, feeling its weight and balance.

“He’s paranoid.He never stays anywhere too long, only a few weeks.He leaves the fighting to his Golds and slaves, but he’s a master tactician.A genius.He’s cruel. I’ve heard—“, a pause, “stories.From even before the Institute.”

Rey sits silently, processing before she responds.

“Cassius,”Rey says slowly.“He is not my lover.”

At the name, Kylo’s eyes flare, then die down. 

“Titus,” he says with recognition dawning.“he took Quinn. When I had cast Cassius out.”His eyes hardened.“What did he do to her?”

“Quinn and Cassius, they were together.Quinn escaped Titus’s grip, and fled to Minerva.She told me everything about what happened before she died, her wounds were... not recoverable.”Rey explains sadly.“When Cassius sought him for revenge, I offered to help.We took him down together.” 

Kylo’s head tilts thoughtfully.“The other Houses you subdue.The ones you don’t enslave.The other Golds, they don’t _obey_ you, they _join_ you _._ Cassius, too.”

“I give them purpose and opportunity where they have none.I give them back their honor.They fight better.Like Golds.”

That look of awe.

Kylo seizes Rey and kisses her so hard she thinks she might break.“My clever girl.”His smile may be the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen.

She returns the smile.“Before we go.You’ll show me how to use that Razor.”

———

For weeks, they travel before they see the signs of Pluto movement.Refugees from decimated Houses. Raiding camps.Weapons no other House is armed with. 

They ditch the horses and travel on foot, carrying only only the armor, Razor, pulseSpear, and minimal supplies.They also carry the Mars standard, carefully hidden, tucked away.

At day they train, sometimes with the Razor, sometimes the spear.More often than not, it ends with Kylo pinning her, and they fuck.Sometimes Rey is the victor. 

Always, he yields.

It’s becoming a problem.Rey sometimes does not know where she ends, and he begins.She thinks maybe her time as a Red was not real, a dream. That maybe she was not created witha deadly purpose after all, to be the end of him and the others Golds here, friends and enemies alike. Was there ever a time when she was not with Kylo? They fight almost as one now. The guilt threatens to consume her, til she sees him, staring in his way with his wordless devotion, and she is lost again.

There is a skirmish with a ragtag of deserters who think to surprise an ambush their camp, and Rey takes a knife to the rib.She has to step in between Kylo’s Razor and the Golds to prevent him from cutting down them all.They flee, and minutes pass before she’s confident the blood has left his vision and she can let go of his wrist.

Rey is in trouble.

———

She has an idea.

Kylo does not like the plan. 

“Are you sure about this?”His knuckles are white, clutching the standard.

“The Jackal is paranoid.He allows no one near him, you said it yourself.We will not get a weapon near him otherwise.He won’t know me.I can find where he is hiding, and earn his trust.”

Threading the back of her hair gently, he gives her a look filled with steel and tenderness.He pulls her close.Rey shuts her eyes, feeling his lips blot her brow gently. 

Kylo au Ren presses the standard to Rey’s forehead.He steps back, watching the sigil of House Mars burnish itself on her brow.

———

Rey is almost bored. _The pulseSpear makes it too easy._ She’s laid down 5 of the Plutonian fighters, and 6 of their slaves.There are twenty more circling them, and with the adrenaline in her veins, she thinks she can take them all.

But she then remembers the plan, and allows herself to react too slowly, leaving an opening for the girl at her 8 o’clock.Freezing, she feels the point of a sword beneath her ribs, and drops her pulseSpear.For seconds, the sword does not move.She then feels the blade drag slowly, almost for effect, opening a shallow wound down her side.

The girl speaks. An cold voice, clear but toneless.“Well, that was interesting.I’ve never seen a slave fight like that before. Bring her to the Jackal.”

———

The Jackal and his army are at House Ceres.Rey is ushered to the center of the castle at the point of several ionBlades.A large room has been outfitted with a makeshift throne.Upon it sits a thin Gold with piercing intelligent eyes.The girl who had “captured” her in the forest slinks next to him, whispering into his ear.Her face is marked with scars, and bones woven into her hair.She looks coldly at Rey, holding Rey’s pulseSpear as her prize.

The room is filled with maybe twenty others, a mixture of Pluto Golds and slaves.The slaves do not look up when she enters.

The small Gold on the throne, the Jackal, peers at her with interest.“Lilath here tells me a wonderful story.A Martian slave, fighting off more than a third of the force I sent on a raid.All alone, fighting like a feral cat.” A pause. “Where is your signet?”

“The Mars Primus collects them from his slaves.I was with House Venus.But not for long,” she spits, letting her disgust show.

The Jackal smiles thinly.“Ah yes, Venus.You certainly are pretty enough to fit the mold of that House.But your Primus, Camilla au Sextus?I’m not surprised you were the first to fall to Ren .Not a great choice on your part.”

“I did not follow Camilla.”She replies imperiously.

“Mmm,” he smiles. “Well, tell me your name, girl.”

“Sabina au Rote,” Rey replies. 

“Mm, I remember seeing the name, a midDraft as it were? Who is your family?”

Rey recites the details that Kylo told her. 

“Splendid.Splendid.And tell me,” he pauses, “ _why_ does a midDraft from a family of Luna administrators fight so hard for a rival’s House?I can barely get my slaves here to do _anything_ without... persuasion.”Despite his banter, there is no amusement in his voice.

Rey, sensing danger, pitches her voice with even conviction.“Camilla is a fool, and Ren is monster, but at least strong.I’m here to make a name for myself, and I learned very early on that the Primus my House elected was... _lacking_.I hope to show the Proctors that my skills make me worthy for acceptance at the Academy.” 

The Jackal pauses several seconds, merely staring at her.Assessing.

Finally, he waves over a slave.The slave stumbles then rushes to him quickly, carrying a gold brocade cloth, eyes still down. The Pluto standard. _I’ve never seen a Gold hunched so. He looks like a Brown_ , Rey thinks _._

Then, the Jackal turns to his left, and nods to a pair of Pluto soldiers.They are two enormous Golds, almost as tall as Kylo au Ren, but wider.The both have the same haunting cruelty in their gaze.One is missing an eye.She watches as another slave comes in and brings a loaf of bread to the throne of the Jackal, scurrying off as soon as the plate falls.The Pluto Golds step toward her.The Jackal takes a knife, a wicked looking Bowie maybe 5 inches long, and carefully slices a piece of bread from the loaf. 

“Let’s have a bit of a contest here, my ambitious girl.You versus Sirius and Thaddeus.Go.”

Rey plants her legs and crosses her arms, not moving.

“Ah, course!I nearly forgot.Sirius, please do the honors.”

One of the large Golds breaks off and takes the Pluto standard from the slave.He walks to Rey and grabs the back of her head, smearing the cloth on her brow crudely.

Rey feels the Mars sigil dissolve, replaced by the Cypruss of House Pluto.

“There we go.” He chews on the bread thoughtfully. Rey turns toward Sirius and Thaddeus, crouching in a ready posture.They pull out two knives, both as deadly and intimidating as the one held by the Jackal.

“One more thing!”He tosses the knife at Rey, who catches it by the hilt in the air near her shoulder. 

“Let’s make it interesting.Fight to first blood, of course.”He then looks at Rey, his lip turning up slightly. “You take something of them.An ear, a nose, a toe, I’ll give you options.It’s the lady’s choice.”

He then turns to the Pluto Golds.His words are cold, laced with boredom. 

“From her?I want her tongue.” 

———

Rey stands over the last Gold, barely conscious and writhing.She turns toward the Jackal, leaving him to his moaning, defeated.The other would-be opponent clutches his hand, stemming the bleeding stump at his knuckle.He bleeds in four other places.His eyes are cold daggers in Rey’s direction.

Rey tosses the knife to the side.She bows, holding one hand up triumphantly, clutching her prize. A bloody finger.

“Ah! That was splendid.”The Jackal claps. “Quite a show, my little feral cat.”

A pregnant pause.“But you forgot.I require one from _each_ of your opponents.”He says it slowly, with precise calculation.

Rey smiles, and spits. 

A ragged piece of earlobe hits the floor.

The Jackal narrows his eyes, and grants Rey a brief smile.There is no warmth.In fact, he seems disappointed.

“I stand corrected.”

He then turns to Lilath, “I like this one, she’ll do very well.Bring her on your next excursion. Let her have that spear back, I expect she knows how to use it.”Lilath huffs petulantly.She had clearly wanted it for herself. 

Two Plutonians move to escort Rey away, before the Jackal stops them.

“Before you go.One more test.Come, Sabrina.”

Rey approaches the throne cautiously.Something is not right.Did he detect her deception?Technically, now that she has been marked a slave in the game, she is compelled to answer anything truthfully, or at least not blatantly lie.She hopes he does not continue his train of questioning from earlier. 

The Jackal motions for her to kneel, and Rey does so.He removes his cock from his pants and gestures at the flaccid member. 

“Now, my little Venus slave. _Suck_.”

Rage burns in her belly.It takes all her self control to tamp it down.She feels him slide in her mouth; a wet, salty worm.She looks away, and imagines Kylo’s Razor cutting a neat line through his belly.She thinks of her pulseSpear, an arm’s length away, and the hole it would raze in his chest.She tries not to think of anything. 

It’s a few brief seconds, but it feel like hours.She hears the Jackal laugh and pull his member away, stuffing it back into his trousers. He is satisfied with the show.

“Go now,” he dismisses her.Rey turns on her heel to exit, a mixture of shame and murder filling her veins.

———

Weeks pass.Rey is sent on skirmishes daily. The Plutonians are well armed, disgustingly so.They have ionBlades, shielding, and even other pulseWeapons.Stragglers from Ceres are found, and eliminated.More Houses fall.Golds are as likely to be killed in “accidents” as made Pluto slaves.

At the castle, Rey is forced to duel with Plutonians and slaves.She takes more body parts.

One night she is summoned.There is a force of a hundred House Pluto Golds and slaves, gathering at the ready.The Jackal sits calmly at his throne, his eyes slits, soaking in the energy.Lilath looks practically bubbly with excitement. 

Rey says nothing, holding her pulseSpear at her side stiffly.She turns toward the Gold to her left.“What is happening?”

“We attack Minerva.Tonight.”

———

Rey is part of the second wave that hits the battlefield.She stops when she senses a band of Minervans, about 20 meters away, thinking to ambush her from the trees.

It’s Sevro, peeking out from his wolf pelt.“Rey?”

“Stop.Don’t come any closer.I’m marked as a slave to Pluto.I have to fight you, Sevro.Or I lose the game.”

“What happened, woman?”

“I don’t have time to explain.Find Kylo Ren.Tell him the Jackal is holing up at Ceres castle. He keeps anywhere from fifty to a hundred men there, but at night is your best chance, that is when he sends his rovers. Go. He can help you defeat him.”

Another familiar voice.“You cannot trust Ren, Rey,” Cassius pleads with her.

“I know what you think,” She squeezes her eyes. “I have my reasons,” she states with authority.“Go!”

It is then she sees it.Reinforcements cresting over the hill.She goes cold.

Her knees give way.A kick from behind her.“Tsk tsk, what are you doing?” The voice belongs to a Plutonian solider.Another blow to her ribs.Some one grabs her pulseSpear.She turns to see Sevro and her friends fleeing, fighting the Plutonians in their path.

“The Jackal won’t be happy to see his favorite slave consorting with the enemy.” The Gold continues scolding.“Bring her.” 

Arms grab her, pushing her forward roughly.

She is escorted to center of the army.She faces many satisfied sneers, from slaves and members of House Pluto alike, happy to see her fall out of favor.She’s personally embarrassed many of them.A few that she’s personally maimed.

They show her forward, approaching a circle of Pluto Golds.The Jackal’s most trusted generals. 

She hears another familiar voice.A broad, black figure, standing imperiously with House Pluto.

Kylo flicks his eyes in her direction, then turns away. She hears him speak, and her heart turns to ice. 

“The Minervans are all but defeated.My men are pursing the stragglers and we will have their standard captured shortly.The other are Houses subdued.Tell the Jackal we should meet.”

“Why?” Rey manages at him weakly. 

“Shut up, slave,” A Gold smacks her face. “Traitor.” She is kicked again, then feels a blow land on the side of her head, the cold metal of her pulseSpear.

The last thing she sees before her vision goes dark is Kylo’s unreadable stare.

———

Rey blinks her eyes open.She sees black, resolving to white patches.The patches shrink and become interlaced stones.They are moving.A ceiling. She tries to move her limbs.They dangle, unresponsive to her commands. Something warm, and hard holds her fixed.Her head is throbbing.

A familiar, musky, smell.She turns and sees the face of Kylo Ren stare impassively ahead.She is being carried, bridal style.There’s an escort of Gold around him.He does not look at her. 

Seconds later she is dumped onto the floor of the great room at Ceres.

“Hello, Rey au Andromedus.”

She stares at the Jackal, perched on his stolen throne.Beside him, Lilath snickers. 

“Of course, I know who you are now.Kylo here has filled me in.”

Rey goes still, bowing her head. 

“Do you not know?His adoptive father and I made a deal. It’s all been arranged. I win the Laurel, my _goodman_ Kylo here is guaranteed a position as an Praetor Knight.Mars and Luna, you see, they don’t exactly get along.The Rim Lords have never been happy with the Organa’s chokehold on the Morning Throne.We have a plan to change that, we Augustus and Rens.I am a politico at heart, you see.Don’t like to get my hands messy.Kylo is to be my sword arm, my enforcer.

Thank you, by the way, for taking care of Apollo for me.He had wind of our little plan, and let’s just say, was not _towing the line_ with the rest of the Proctors.”

A thread of anguish.Rey does not look at Kylo.

“Ah yes, your little ally here, I’m afraid he was using you.Dealt him a nasty little scar though, didn’t you Scavenger? The mighty Kylo au Ren, beaten at the Razor by a barely trained girl. You are full of surprises, aren’t you.”

Rey attempts to spit at his face.It lands short.

The Jackal laughs.“I wonder, where did you come from.Some dustbin, no doubt.So clever and strong, earning a spot at the Institute, here to revive glory and honor to your family name.I’ve grown found of you. Scavenger, or no.The Scavenger and the Jackal.It has a ring to it, don’t you think?” 

The room goes cold.Rey can practically feel the rage vibrating from the Mars Primus.

The Jackal hands Rey a Razor.“Let’s make this interesting.Defeat him, and you can take his place.Little Scavenger.You came this way to earn a place amongst the elite Aureate? An apprenticeship? Knighthood? You can have it.” 

_The Jackal and his games._

Rey pauses, thinking of Dancer.He would want her to do this. In the Augustus House, she would be in a position to sow the seed of their destruction, and that of all Golds.Subvert them from within as an agent of the House of Ares. She thinks of her brother, killed at the noose in a mine, disintegrating in an unmarked grave, sent there by the very man she would pretend to serve.All of this would _not_ be for nothing.

All she had to do was kill Kylo au Ren.

The Jackal continues. “Finish what you started, and kill him,” he repeats.

A pause.

“That is an order, _slave._ ”

Rey activates the Razor and faces the Knight.Kylo’s face is carved from granite.His eyes are flat.She has seen that same look in predators.

 _How COULD you?,s_ he cries wordlessly.Then she attacks with fury.

Rey does not hold back.She uses the moves she learned from him not long ago, in what seemed like a another lifetime.Rey blocks his first three, four strikes, before she feels the wall at her back.She kicks him with the force of her rage and pain, grunting and screaming, regaining the lost footing.

There is the sound of a satisfying tear as Rey slashes down and gets a hit across the breastplate of his armor.Armor they had taken from the Apollans, together.

She focuses her gaze everywhere except Kylo’s face.She does not trust herself to not break.

Something is wrong. _He is stronger than this._ Kylo is defending, but just.

“Rey—” he breathes to her.“The Apollo Proctor, I didn’t know.I was tricked—”

“You gorydamn bastard!”, she cries, throwing another hit.Tears leak out the corner of an eye.She curses herself silently.Golds do _not_ weep.

Rey knocks the Razor out of his grip, sending it spinning across the room.She lands anotherkick and Kylo lets out a grunt and falls back.Rey brings her Razor down to strike, but Kylo uses his legs to knock her aside, grabbing a wrist in each hand.Rey straddles Ren, pressing the blade inches from his neck.She summons her Helldiver’s strength and wills it closer and closer.Kylo holds her back, a battle of wills.

She lets out of a cry of frustration, and finally brings her gaze to meet Kylo’s. 

His pupils are wide.They are pleading with her to understand. 

The fury in Rey evaporates, a snuffed flame.

It’s then Rey sees it.There is a tear in his breastplate, his armor, where her Razor cut through. 

A flash of fabric spilling out, embroidered with thread of a sigil. 

His eyes are soft, and he nods.

He takes her hand, guiding it to the the bottom of his breastplate.Rey tugs.She pulls out the Mars standard, stuffed underneath.She meets his other hand, still bracing the wrist against her Razor. 

He lets go of her wrist, taking the cloth, leaving her free to bring her sword arm down against his throat. 

Instead, Rey leans forward gently, meeting her forehead to the standard clutched in his fist.

The slave sigil of Pluto vanishes.The Mars sigil appears. 

Kylo presses again, and Rey’s brow is clear.

Rey is free. 

She passes her Razor to Kylo, their fingertips brushing as she pulls away.

They both turn to the Jackal, whose mocking smile breaks.

“You...”, the Jackal cries shrilly, his small body shrinking back into the throne.

He does not get a chance to finish the sentence.Kylo is across the room in three broad strides.On the last step, he raises his arm and slashes downward.The Jackal’s head rolls twice, severed cleanly. 

Beside him, Lilath moves like a viper.She goes for Kylo’s Razor, the one she had disarmed from the fight, but Rey is faster.She intercepts.She grabs a fistful of blond hair and they tumble.Rey uses her leverage to swing on top of her, then land a punch. Lilath tries to grab the arm when she retracts for a second hit, twisting.Rey presses her elbow in a choke and watches the girl go purple, eyes bulging with rage, then rolling into whites as she falls unconscious.Rey hits her again for good measure.Kylo steps up and presses the Mars standard to her forehead.She will wake up a slave.

The Pluto standard is guarded by a trio of nasty Plutos and a slave.To Rey’s pleasure, three attempt to resist.The slave looks on motionlessly with his one eye, nodding in approval as they are cut down. He points to a chest, and they find the other standards from the Houses the Jackal has collected.They take the standard for House Pluto, leaving the rest.Rey steps to the Gold slave, who recoils with terror.

“You can join us, earn what glory you can, or stay here with the rest,” Rey says.

His eyes widen and he nods, almost imperceptibly.She presses the standard to his head, and the sigil disappears.

They move through the castle, Razors in hand, collecting allies from the slaves and making slaves of what remain of House Pluto.

———

Outside, they find Sevro, circled by his Howlers.Cassius stands back, looking beautiful and furious.Pax joins him, managing to make the Mars Primus look small in his shadow.The Minervans that escaped the previous ambush all point their weapons at Kylo au Ren. 

He stands motionless with his Razor at his side.He doesn’t acknowledge their presence.He looks only at Rey.

Incredibly, he drop to one knee.Sevro and the rest watch agape.He holsters his Razor on his waist, then takes the Mars and Pluto standards and offers them to Rey with two hands. 

Sevro is the first to speak.“Well I’ve seen it all.Kylo Ren on his knees like a sniveling Pink.Fuck me.”

“Sevro, you have our standard?”Rey says flatly. 

“I do.”He shrugs, reaching back, and pulls it from his pants.“You might not want to uhh, touch that too much.”

Rey takes it anyway, and tries not to think of where the thing has been for the past few weeks.She accepts the two standards from Kylo and hands them to Pax, who looks like he is itching to use his broadsword. 

Kylo waits, kneeling.His gaze burns into Rey’s. 

She brings the Minervan standard inches from his brow, then pushes it to his chest. 

“Here,” she says.Kylo raises an eyebrow. 

Sevro is apoplectic. “Have you lost your gorydamn mind, woman?”

Then, from Pax: “The Goblin has a point, my lady. This seems.. unwise.”

Rey ignores them, speaking only to Ren.“We have defeated the other Houses.It’s just us.We are stronger together.I will not make you a slave, Kylo au Ren.Will you carry my standard, and join me?” 

She offers a hand out to him, and steels her heart.

With his right hand, he takes her hand gently, rising with the movement.He clasps the offered standard with the left.

“I am yours, always,” he breathes solemnly. His eyes glitter. Rey finally takes a breath. 

“...But this is disgusting.Give it back to your wolf demon.”He promptly drops the Minervan standard on the ground.

Sevro howls in laughter.

The other Minervans are... confused.But their postures relax, weapons dropping.

Rey pulls Kylo close and places a hand on his chest.“Now, let’s go have a chat with those cheating Proctors,” she says lightly.

Sevro: “Oh, this is going to be _fun_.”

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks all! I was sooo tempted to drag this out a bit, another fun world. Hope it all hung together.


End file.
